I'm not a terribly anxious or angsty person. In fact, I'm probably much less so in comparison to those around me. Things don't normally make me feel uneasy or on edge to an exceptional degree, but there is something that makes me feel absolutely terrified: death.

It isn't what comes after death, or even the process of dying, but the implications of it. I have no problem, in principle, with the idea that life comes to an end. Some of the people I admire most - Christopher Hitchens and Bertrand Russell, specifically - have commented on the temporary nature of life and, agreeably, reached the conclusion that it's for the best.

Bertrand Russel, in particular, thought the value of life lay exactly in its potential for non-existence. It is, in essence, a question of economics when you involve the idea of scarcity. I feel that people like Hitchens and Russell are allowed to say things like this, because they were both at least marginally famous and intelligent and consequential throughout their lives. They had impact.

The idea that I could - or, more correctly, probably will - live my life in a mostly inconsequential way is terrifying. The idea that I could die a nobody, and leave no impact from my existence is anathema to everything I could ever want. I look at my parents and where my friends seem to want to go, and the thought that I could follow a similar path really does make me anxious.

I want power, no doubt for partly megalomaniacal reasons, but I don't mean power in a raw sense. I want my life to have been of some influence to the world as a whole; I want it to be remembered as something of consequence. Something which had the capacity to cause a significant change. Is this idealistic? Maybe, but I'm not particularly bothered about the content of the change, I merely desire the capacity or the position to make such an alteration in the first place.

I thought I'd post this because it seems relate-able to most other people, even if for different reasons. Essentially, death scares me because it means an end to my influence, my Will to Power.

im scatter-brained atm, ashy
could you tell me tl;dr what youre afraid of?

(sowwy)

I'm totally okay with going out with a name that'll be forgotten in a generation.

I'm not afraid of death. It's the events that lead up to it for me. If I end up with some shit like cancer or something similar, I'd rather end myself quickly than go through the waste of resources and pain that is ultimately pointless.

However, I have a view of life that there isn't a meaning or point, so the next best thing to me is to enjoy myself while I can. If I died tomorrow, fuck it. I've enjoyed myself. I have nothing to aim for anyway.

I'm one of the people that want to live forever. To me, the idea that I will be non-existent in the future is terrifying. I want to live to see amazing events like Andromeda merge with our galaxy, I want to live to see Betelgeuse go supernova and be visible in broad daylight. I want to see what the average persons life will be like in a few thousand years time. I want to watch what happens to our society as we progress (or ruin our progress). I want to see space in person. I want to explore Earth in its entirety.

In short, life is too short.

I have anxiety so I can relate.

Quote from: Scary Digger on October 25, 2014, 03:09:01 PM

Quote from: Mr Psychologist on October 25, 2014, 11:03:14 AM

Why do you think I'm so hellbent on getting Bionics/Augmetics?
It's not just a running joke gone too far, I would certainly like to pad out my lifespan as much as inhumanly possible.

At the same time, as long as I get to do the job I intend to and help people who need it. That's good enough for me and I would go quietly into the ground/recycling plant afterwards.

I'm also interested in bionics/augments. I am considering having my brain put into a cryostasis-like state (yes, this is a thing) when I feel death is imminent so I can be awoken at a later time when technology advances.

If the opportunity presents itself to me, then I would certainly take it. Although that does seem a little too much like hedging your bets, but if you are on death's door then I don't see why it's not worth trying >.>

I'm just hoping that as a species we manage to make it through the next 30 years, when Fusion should be a thing (No pressure Lockheed-Martin btw) and automation is the norm which would basically start to shove us into a post-scarcity cycle. We'd need to get our shit together for that to happen though, and we certainly would need to be a lot more efficient with waste <.<

Agreed. Fusion would have been a thing sooner if it wasn't so damn efficient.